Photos from charity gig in aid of MNDA

It was a pleasure to take some photos at a recent gig by Southbound in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. A friend of the band, Alistair http://alistairtheoptimist.org/ is the face of the MNDA campaign and can be seen on posters around the country. I would encourage everyone to read his story via the link above - an inspiring guy.

Baby challenge

Here are some pics from a recent shoot with 5 month old E. The shoot took place at home on a typically overcast winter’s dayand was complicated by E’s aversion to any form of artificial light – he pulled the startled, grumpy face whenever the flash was in use. So, I reverted to plan B with the less fierce camera mounted flash pointed away from his face and as much use of natural light as possible. Some good results in the end which parents and I were pleased with.

Wedding as a guest

Bit of a rarity these days as I had the chance to snap away at a wedding as a guest. I made sure I stayed out of the official photographers way and just took some candid snaps around the church and at the reception. It was a good chance to try out a few new ideas (see the evening party pics taken without flash) without the pressure of a normal wedding.

In this picture, rather than isolate the bride and groom, I’ve moved onto some higher ground at the back of the group and taken the picture over the heads of the other guests. I then adjusted the exposure in processing to burn out the people at the very back of the shot.

 

This shot was taken while waiting for the group photos to be taken  – I was looking for suitable subjects to isolate. This guests pose was perfect for that and the blue dress stands out brilliantly when the rest of the image is toned down to black and white.

 

 I always like to get pictures of the bride looking relaxed and enjoying herself – catching her chatting with friends and rarely seen relatives is a great way of doing this, and these two photos show just that. 

 

 

These remaining images were taken during the evening, some with the guests knowing the camera was on them, some unaware and others somewhere between the two states!

  

 

Call for Bumps and Babies

I’m looking for some extra pregnancy and baby images to add to my site and portfolio. If you would like a photoshoot at no charge with a free photo to keep as a memento please contact me asap. Please mention that you saw this offer on my blog to qualify.

Summer 2010

Great early summer weather had me out at every opportunity with the macro lens expanding my collection of flower portraits ready for the launch of www.flowerwallart.com which is my on-line store for selling prints and canvases. I’ve also had a solo exhibition in Bath and shared an exhibition with two artists at the National Gardening Show. If you visited either of the exhibitions it would be great to know what you thought, so please leave a comment.

 

I’ve also been out on portrait shoots at customers homes.  The real highlight sessions were for a two year old girl, F, in Keynsham and the B family near Chipping Sodbury. The session with F was a story of two halves, one indoors with the softbox and umbrella lights set-up and a white background, the other in the garden on assorted play equipment. Part of the pleasure in photographing children is in their unpredictability – some will relish posing for the camera, while for others it’s a fate worse than eating their crusts. F fell somewhere between the two extremes, so whilst the indoor shots took a fair bit of the assmbled adults time in songs and monkey shaking, she happily played in the garden and I could give her more space with a longer lens on the camera to enjoy herself.

 

The session with the B family took place on one of those perfect late summer days when the sun is lower in the sky and the light is near perfect for photography. They had a great garden to act as the backdrop to the photos and I took a range of images from the slightly more posed family groups to the children jamming with their sax and clarinet.

Commercially the most unusual project was definitely an organic farm near Hilperton. The brief from the clients was to show the farms green credentials as they had spent considerable time planting trees and hedgerows, installing nest boxes, creating ponds, establishing bee hives and much more. They also wanted images of the animals which provide the farm’s income. So bulls with attitude and new-born lambs to the fore – a bit of a change from the usual photo shoots.